Joe Williams (judge)

Sir Joseph Victor Williams KNZM (born 1961) is a judge and the first Māori person appointed to the Supreme Court of New Zealand.[1] He is of Ngāti Pūkenga and Te Arawa descent.

The Honourable
Sir Joe Williams
KNZM
Williams in 2019
Justice of the Supreme Court
Assumed office
2 May 2019
Judge of the Court of Appeal
In office
20 December 2017 – 1 May 2019
Personal details
Born
Joseph Victor Williams

1961 (age 60–61)
Alma materVictoria University of Wellington
University of British Columbia

Biography

Williams was brought up without much money in Hastings by a great-uncle and a great-aunt alongside his cousins. He won a scholarship and was educated at Lindisfarne College.[2] At first, he studied Māori language and then law.[3] In 1986, he graduated from Victoria University of Wellington with an LLB, and later with a LLM first class honours from the University of British Columbia in Indigenous Rights Law.

In the 1980s, Williams was a musician as a member of the Ngāhiwi Apanui-led band Aotearoa, known for their bilingual Pacific reggae song "Maranga Ake Ai" (1985).[4][2]

In 1999, at the age of 38, he became the youngest person to be appointed Chief Judge of the Māori Land Court. In 2004, Williams was appointed the Chairperson of the Waitangi Tribunal.

In 2008, he was appointed a Justice of the High Court of New Zealand.[5] In 2017, he became the first Te Reo Māori speaker appointed to the Court of Appeal.[6]

Williams is a former Vice-President of the Māori Law Society, and a fellow of the International Academy of Trial Lawyers.[7] He has written about tikanga Māori and New Zealand law. His future vision for New Zealand law is for a time "when tikanga Māori fuses with New Zealand’s common law tradition to form a hybrid law of Aotearoa that could be developed by judges, case by base."[8][9]

Williams' investiture as a Knight Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit by the Governor-General, Dame Patsy Reddy, at Manaia Marae on 10 April 2021

In the 2020 New Year Honours, he was appointed a Knight Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to the judiciary.[10][11] His investitute ceremony took place in April 2021 at his home marae in the Coromandel town of Manaia.[12]

References
  1. "Judges — Courts of New Zealand". www.courtsofnz.govt.nz. Retrieved 31 July 2019.
  2. Maniapoto, Moana (16 May 2021). "Justice Joe Williams: Let's try and get it right". e-tangata. Retrieved 15 February 2022.
  3. Maxwell, Joel (19 September 2020). "Justice Joe Williams on te reo Māori, and synthesising Aotearoa law". Stuff. Retrieved 19 September 2020.
  4. Sheehan, Maree (2 February 2016). "Mana Wahine: Māori Women in Music". Te Kaharoa. 9 (1). doi:10.24135/tekaharoa.v9i1.12. ISSN 1178-6035. Retrieved 15 February 2022.
  5. "Appointment of High Court Judge". The Beehive. Retrieved 31 July 2019.
  6. "Appointment of Judge of the Court of Appeal". The Beehive. Retrieved 31 July 2019.
  7. "Judges — Courts of New Zealand". Courtsofnz.govt.nz. Retrieved 30 December 2019.
  8. Van Beynen, Martin (8 July 2020). "The Peter Ellis case and Māori customary law". Stuff. Retrieved 12 January 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  9. Maxwell, Joel (18 September 2020). "Justice Joe Williams on te reo Māori, and synthesising Aotearoa law". Stuff. Retrieved 12 January 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  10. "New Year Honours 2020: The full list". The New Zealand Herald. 31 December 2019. Retrieved 31 December 2019.
  11. "Justice Joseph Williams – first Māori appointed to the Supreme Court bench – awarded knighthood". Stuff.co.nz. 31 December 2019. Retrieved 31 December 2019.
  12. "Aotearoa's first Māori Supreme Court judge returns to his tūrangawaewae to be knighted". TVNZ. Retrieved 10 April 2021.
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